Report: Fast and Furious Weapon Linked to Assassination Plot

The details surrounding failed gunwalking operation Fast and Furious just keep getting worse and worse. We’re already aware that the guns involved were involved in the deaths of hundreds of Mexican citizens and in the deaths of Brian Terry and Jaime Zapata, but now it has been reported that they might also have been involved in a plot to assassinate the police chief of Tijuana. The El Paso Timesreports:

A weapon tied to “Operation Fast and Furious” was seized in Tijuana in connection with a drug cartel’s conspiracy to kill the police chief of Tijuana, Baja California, who later became the Juárez police chief, according to a U.S. government report.

The firearm was found Feb. 25, 2010, during an arrest of a criminal cell associated with Teodoro “El Teo” García Simental and Raydel “El Muletas” López Uriarte, allies of the Sinaloa cartel.

This echoes what Breitbart’s Mary Chastain wrote a couple days before the Times‘ article, and she has posted a translated version of the original source here (admittedly, it’s translated via Google Translate, so prepare for the typical clumsiness).

This is a great time to remind everyone, including those in Washington, that as bad as Fast and Furious has been for us, it’s so much worse for Mexico. Deroy Murdock, whom Chastain links to, gives an excellent breakdown of just how badly our neighbors to the south have been affected. In addition to being found at 200 different crime scenes, Murdock gives us this somber note in his conclusion:

“Fast and Furious has poisoned the wellspring of public opinion inMexico as it relates to the cooperation and engagement with the United States,” Mexico’s envoy to America, Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan, declared on May 31.

Mr. Issa and Mr. Grassley concluded that 1,048 of these weapons “remain unaccounted for.” Unlike carrier pigeons, these Fast and Furious guns will not fly safely home. Instead, for years to come, they will keep drawing blood in Mexico – and points north.

It’s past time for heads to roll in this scandal, but the Department of Justice, aided by the White House’s claim of executive privilege, has done little but stonewall on the issue. It’s time for some accountability.